Nowadays , ships and boats are no longer so important in transportation as they used to be .   True . With the extension of railways and highways , and the improvement of safety and capacity of airplanes , ships and boats have been giving place to trains , planes and automobiles .   I read in the newspapers that the passenger liners from Shanghai to Ningpo and Dalian have been out of business ; and the liners up and down the Yangtze River have been reduced by 70 % .   The pace of life of people is now getting faster and faster , so the speed of ships and boats seems to be so slow . I think it may be the reason why people don't like to travel by boat .   But the most of the transoceanic cargo transportation is still carried by boat . 